Well, I think it is a complicated issue.
I work in a union.
Man or woman, you are paid the same.... for the same job.
If you are a millwright at #2 Continuous Caster, you make the same base pay because you're a millwright, and the same incentive, because you both work at the same place.
Problem is, a majority, not all, just a majority, of the women work in fields that are either... less dangerous, office work, better environment, etc.
So, a majority aren't a millwright, or really any of the maintenance crafts.
They aren't in a shop like #2 caster, or if they do, they're in a office.
If they work in the shop, they tend towards forklift operator, or even crane operator.
A few that decided they wanted more $$ went into the area/job with more $$.
But, often have to have someone else to the job. For instance, the 121 steelpourer has to stay, to lift the +50 pound hydraulic cylinder that operates the ladle gate. So, he has to do his job, and part of hers.
But..
even this argument falls apart.
A few years ago, my Union Griever was a woman, who was one of the first women ironworkers in the field.
If there was no bathroom, as there often isn't, she'd pee into the pipe like everyone else. Well, not "quite", but she did.
She could kick quite a few asses, including mine I'm sure.
At my hearing for 5 days off, she threatened to... oops, probably shouldn't put that in print.
Suffice to say, she scared everyone.
The security guard at the gate where we were going in for my hearing told her she needed to fill out a new form they had.
She asked for the form.
He said... they haven't printed it yet.
I thought she was going to reach out of the van through the window and twist his lollypop head off.
She worked hard. Out carried, out worked, out everything'd to most people.
And I've worked with guys that didn't "carry their own weight".
So.. it's complicated.
I work in a union.
Man or woman, you are paid the same.... for the same job.
If you are a millwright at #2 Continuous Caster, you make the same base pay because you're a millwright, and the same incentive, because you both work at the same place.
Problem is, a majority, not all, just a majority, of the women work in fields that are either... less dangerous, office work, better environment, etc.
So, a majority aren't a millwright, or really any of the maintenance crafts.
They aren't in a shop like #2 caster, or if they do, they're in a office.
If they work in the shop, they tend towards forklift operator, or even crane operator.
A few that decided they wanted more $$ went into the area/job with more $$.
But, often have to have someone else to the job. For instance, the 121 steelpourer has to stay, to lift the +50 pound hydraulic cylinder that operates the ladle gate. So, he has to do his job, and part of hers.
But..
even this argument falls apart.
A few years ago, my Union Griever was a woman, who was one of the first women ironworkers in the field.
If there was no bathroom, as there often isn't, she'd pee into the pipe like everyone else. Well, not "quite", but she did.
She could kick quite a few asses, including mine I'm sure.
At my hearing for 5 days off, she threatened to... oops, probably shouldn't put that in print.
Suffice to say, she scared everyone.
The security guard at the gate where we were going in for my hearing told her she needed to fill out a new form they had.
She asked for the form.
He said... they haven't printed it yet.
I thought she was going to reach out of the van through the window and twist his lollypop head off.
She worked hard. Out carried, out worked, out everything'd to most people.
And I've worked with guys that didn't "carry their own weight".
So.. it's complicated.